If ever you need me
by Summer Rising
Summary: A series of slice-of-life oneshots about the members Fairy Tail. Chapter 3 - Why is Natsu so peaceful when he sleeps in Lucy's bed? Please R&R, prompts are welcome! Rated T for mild language and sexual innuendo.
1. Chapter 1

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Natsu jerked awake to the sound of a scream. Within a second he was on his feet, surveying the campsite and trying to figure out the source of the sound. He saw the shadowy outline of an equally alert Gray and Erza scanning the woods around, prepared for a fight. His pulse quickened – as much as the dragon slayer liked a good fight, no one wanted to be caught unawares in the darkness of night.

Then again, darkness is quickly remedied when you have a campfire literally at your fingertips.

He felt the tension leave his shoulders when he saw a groggy Lucy comforting a tearful Wendy. He knew without asking what had just happened.

"She had a nightmare," Lucy said simply, rubbing the younger girl's back.

"I'm sorry," the younger girl sniffed. The sky dragon slayer was trembling and tears slipped through her long eyelashes. She looked young and delicate in the flickering light of the fire.

"Quite alright," Erza said, sheathing her sword. She knelt down so she was eye level with the younger girl. "What was the dream about?"

Natsu chuckled to himself – it was funny to see Erza act so motherly. But then again, with Charle and Happy off visiting the Exceed, it made sense that Erza would be particularly doting of Wendy.

"It's silly," Wendy said, blushing. "I didn't mean to scream and wake everyone."

Erza smiled tenderly at her. "It's okay. The best way to get rid of a nightmare is to share it with your nakama. That way we can fight off the fear together."

Natsu made eye contact with Gray, who was smirking. The two boys shared another chuckle at Erza's unusually sweet demeanor. This earned them a glare from Lucy, who misunderstood the gesture.

"It's not as if you've never had a bad dream, Natsu," she said scathingly. "You too, Gray. I've been sharing a campsite with both of you long enough to know."

Erza frowned and opened her mouth to scold the boys, but was stopped by Wendy, who looked at them curiously and asked "Is that true?"

Natsu scowled. "Jeez Luce, we weren't laughing at Wendy."

"Yeah, what kind of assholes do you think we are?" Gray asked as he edged away from Erza, who was still scowling at the boys. He locked eyes with Wendy and smiled at her. "We all have bad dreams sometimes. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Natsu puffed his chest out and crossed his arms. "Yeah Wendy – there's nothing to embarassed about – we'll help you fight off those scary dreams!" He set fire to his fists to emphasize his point.

Gray raised an eyebrow. "We don't have to physically fight it, flame brain," he said.

Natsu glared at the ice mage. "Shut up, snow queen," he retorted.

"What did you call me?!"

"Stop it, you two," Lucy admonished and Erza got to her feet and smacked their heads together and Wendy giggled.

"Owww…." Both boys groaned, rubbing the freshly developing bumps on their heads.

"More importantly," Lucy said to Wendy, ignoring the elemental mages, "what got you so worked up?"

"Well…" Wendy hesitated, but the older girls nodded their heads encouragingly (the boys were now bickering out of Erza's view about whose fault it was they got smacked). "I dreamed the campsite was attacked by Vulcans, and I got separated from the group. And there was a really big one chasing me…and I was tired and out of magical power…"

"We'd never let you get separated like that," Erza said with conviction. "Right?" she called sternly to Gray, who had captured Natsu in a headlock.

"Hmm?…of course no-AH DON'T BITE ME YOU FREAKIN' ANIMAL!" He threw the pink-haired boy, who was laughing maniacally, away from him. "YOU BROKE THE SKIN YOU FREAK!"

This set Wendy and Lucy into a fit of giggles and caused a dangerous glint in Erza's eyes.

"Nakama shouldn't fight!" She shouted as she kicked both boys hard into trees.

"So, are you feeling better?" Lucy asked Wendy through tears of laughter as she watched the boys scuttle up trees in vain efforts to avoid Titania's wrath.

"Much," Wendy gasped, still laughing at the scene before them.

"Good," the blonde mage said. "Anyway, I think Erza is the scariest thing in these woods," she said as the mage in question swiftly cut down the trees Gray and Natsu were trying to use as refuge. The boys ran to each other and cowered in each other's arms as the scarlet-haired woman stepped closer.

"Mhm…" Wendy watched the scene in fascination. "Do you think Natsu and Gray have nightmares about Erza?"

Lucy looked at her thoughtfully. "You know, I bet they do."

"That must be way scarier than any dream I've ever had," Wendy said seriously.

"Probabl- oh no – ERZA! This is a historic forest – please don't kill all the trees!"


	2. Cana goes collecting

Cana sighed as she bent over to grab a white trench coat off the ground.

"That idiot…" she muttered fondly, folding the jacket and slinging it over her shoulder. In all the years she'd been in Fairy Tail, she'd gotten used to the eccentric quirks of her nakama. Admittedly, Gray's stripping was more problematic than Erza's obsessive love of cake, or Natsu's bizarre motion sickness. As a child she used to shriek when Gray started to remove his clothes, but now it was such a normal sight she didn't even have the reflexes to react immediately. If anything, she thought it was kind of cute that he was so heavily by his Master's teachings (though she imagined this wasn't what the great Ice Mage Ur had in mind).

Whistling, she continued down the street. Two blocks down she paused to snatch a black turtleneck, which she shoved in her bag.

"That's not surprising," she said to herself, rolling her eyes. Cana regularly found Gray's discarded clothes strewn across the streets of Magnolia. Many of the other guild members would leave them, but she never felt right leaving his stuff for someone to tread on.

Another block down she winked at a group of teenage boys as she bent over to retrieve a single black boot and pair of socks. She smirked and lazily threw a hand on her hip as she straightened, causing two of the boys to whistle and the third to oogle. Self-satisfied with their reaction, she continued toward the guild, collecting the matching boot and a pair of dark green pants on the way. None of this phased her until she was one block from the guild and she came upon a flag pole in her line of sight. This wouldn't have bothered her, except that instead of a flag, a pair of black silk boxers stared her in the face. This was the one part of Gray's habit that never failed to piss her off.

"Gross!" she couldn't help but shout. Irritated, she pulled the boxers off the pole with just the tips of her fingers and stomped into Fairy Tail.

"GRAY!" She shouted, slamming the hall doors open. "CLOTHES!"

The other members snickered but didn't pay her much mind, except Juvia, who dove for the boxers Cana was holding out. Cana couldn't resist teasing the poor water mage, and twisted so the boxers were out of her reach. She liked Juvia, but before the blue-haired girl joined Fairy Tail, she had been the only woman vying for Gray's attention. Now she had a beautiful rival with romantic notions to deal with.

Now, Cana wasn't one to romanticize her feelings. Having been a longtime member, she had intimate friendships with many of the members. So when she first developed a crush on Fairy Tail's resident nudist she simply chalked it up to the fact that they were good friends who had grown up together. After all, Gray always appreciated her snarky comments and was one of the few younger members of the guild that would sit down for a drinking stint with her (though she always consumed far more than the ice mage).

But lately she would catch herself admiring his toned muscles every time his shirt went missing, and sometimes she would even sneak a glance at the more intimate parts of him when the chance presented itself (which it did often enough that she didn't feel all that guilty).

Cana knew that she was quite the beauty herself, but she never found any evidence that Gray noticed her curvaceous figure. When they were a bit younger she would experiment with flirting, taking perverse pleasure in making the boy turn strange shades of pink and red. Eventually he learned to respond with some feisty banter, which always delighted her. She knew Gray, being closer in age than her frequent drinking buddy Macao, would be a more appropriate dating prospect, but for years she still focused her efforts on the older mage who was far more in-tune with a woman's mind (and body).

But, none of that changed the fact that she'd been dreaming about the ice alchemist every night for weeks. Which was irritating, because Cana didn't think of herself as someone who could fall prey to a petty crush. She was a woman and depth and passion. Besides, lovesick stalker would look creepy on her (although it was somewhat adorable on Juvia). So what did the dreams mean, anyway? She was tempted to consult her cards on the matter, but she found trying to read her own fortune was usually a bad idea.

"Oi, Cana!" Natsu shouted from the bar, snapping her out of her thoughts. "The snow fairy isn't here. Why do you have those nasty things?"

"Not…here?" The card mage looked around for confirmation. The ice mage wasn't anywhere to be seen, naked or otherwise.

"Fuck…." She said, realizing that if the exhibitionist wasn't in the guild hall, then he was wandering the streets nude again, probably utterly unaware. She felt a vein pulse in her forehead out of annoyance. Erza wasn't around, which meant the duty of tracking down the naked mage would fall squarely on her shoulders. Normally she wouldn't have particularly minded, but she just got back from a job and all she wanted to do was relax.

"Mira!" she shouted. "I need a beer!"

"Er…don't you think you should find Gray first?" Lucy asked as Cana threw the boxers at Juvia and took a seat at the bar. Despite her infatuation, she had no desire to hold on to Gray's dirty underpants.

"That moron can deal with the consequences himself," the brunette responded, rubbing her forehead. "I just got here and I already have a headache." With that, she downed the tankard Mira had placed in front of her. "ANOTHER! – in fact, just give me a barrel."

Letting Gray run around naked was her own little form of payback for his obliviousness to her budding feelings. Not that she would ever tell him that – she had too much pride. It was far more satisfying to silently let him suffer.

Two barrels and six tankards later, Cana decided she was in a sufficiently tipsy state to go deal with naked Gray. Hopping nimbly off the barstool, she gathered the clothing she collected earlier (minus the boxers, which Juvia had whisked away to what Cana could only assume was some kind of kinky shine).

"I'm going to make that stripper buy me a drink when I find him," she said to herself. "A drink for every piece of clothing…" She cackled at the thought, causing Lucy to give her a strange look.

…...

"GRAY!" Cana shouted. "COME HERE GRAY! The world doesn't need to see all of you!"

She had been searching for nearly half and hour and still hadn't found him. More importantly, her buzz was wearing off. Aggravated, she decided to pop into a pub for a quick pick-me-up before continuing her search.

"Whiskey – straight!" she said, tossing money down on the counter. The barman gave her a quick appraisal before pouring her drink.

"Say," she said to him as she knocked her drink back. "You haven't had a guy come in here, my age, about your height, dark hair, droopy eyes?"

He raised an eyebrow, evidently amused. "Care to be a little more specific? We get a lot of folks in here matching that description."

"Oh right," she said as she held up her glass for a refill. "He would have been nude.

He looked at her incredulously. "Why would he be walking around naked?"

"Because I have his clothes, " she said simply, finishing her second drink in one graceful swig.

The barman blinked a few times. "Uh…."

"I take it you haven't seen him then," she said, getting up. "Thanks anyway buddy!"

As she stepped outside, Cana had an epiphany. Excited, she turned on her heel and started running. After all the years of saving Gray from his stupid habit, why hadn't she thought of it sooner? He always hides in the same place – if he can get there before the soldiers catch him and throw him in jail for public indecency.

"GRAY!" she shouted down the alley. "It's me!"

"Took you long enough!" he said, peering out from behind the long-unused dumpster. "I've been waiting for an hour!"

"Don't blame me for your stupid habit," she snapped. "I walked around half this city trying to save your naked ass."

This made the ice mage laugh. "You're right. And thank you for coming to save my naked ass." He grinned at her and a tiny piece of her heart swooned. "Now can I have my clothes?"

She grinned back at him mischievously and dangled his pants from her finger. "Come and get them."

His smile fell. "Cana…I literally don't have anything on right now…"

"Really?" she said innocently. "I didn't find your boxers…are you lying?"

This was a game they sometimes played. Some men might find it seductive, but someone who spent half his time running around naked was too used to it to appreciate it.

"Don't be a bitch," he said flatly. "Just give me my clothes."

"But I want to see the Little Prince," she teased. "It's been a long time since his last public appearance." Some girls would swallow their own tongue before saying something like, but Cana was known for her sassy mouth when she drank (which was all the time). Besides, Gray would never take her seriously, even if she was somewhat serious.

"Don't call it that," Gray said, sounding scandalized. "It's anything but little."

The girl laughed and tossed the boy his clothes. She couldn't help but be slightly disappointed – as much a headache as Gray's habit caused over the years, he'd certainly grown to be a view she enjoyed.

"That's more like it," he said, ducking behind the dumpster as he pulled on his pants.

Moments later he emerged, still shirtless. He approached her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks for always bailing me out…I don't know how it happens!" He shook his head in confusion as though his clothing just magically fell off each time he found himself that way.

Cana resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Don't mention it. Let's get going, okay? You owe me like ten drinks."

He laughed. "Ten drinks, really?"

"Mhm," she said seriously as they walked out of the alley. "You have no idea what I went through to return those clothes to you."

"I'm sure it was just terrible," Gray said sarcastically. "I'm a little strapped for cash – would you compromise on coming over for dinner?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Are we drinking our dinner?"

He smirked. "I've got a few bottles we can polish off." He stopped walking and turned to face her, catching her off guard. There was an impish glint in his eye. "And if you come over to my place I can give you a look at the Prince."

"Hmpht. Well I guess if you're making me dinner first," she said nonchalantly. This was the banter she always enjoyed.

He stared at her intensely and moved closer. She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck, calling his bluff. No matter who it was, Cana Alberona would win in a game of sex appeal.

Suddenly he reached an arm around her waist and pulled her even closer. "You're such a tease," he purred into her ear.

This was not what the card mage had been expecting. She felt her heart rate increase. This was the way Macao used to hold her. It was a weird thought. Summoning her courage (because Cana was generally a very self-assured woman and refused to let this moment change that), she whispered in his ear.

"If there's something you want, go ahead and take it."

Gray pulled his head back to look her directly in the eye, like he was uncertain he'd heard her properly. Then, in a decisive moment, he gently pressed his lips against hers.

It wasn't a particularly long or heated kiss, and as they separated he again stared into her eyes with a puzzled look on his face, as if awaiting her reaction.

In answer, she pulled him against her and returned his kiss with a longer, passionate kiss. So here they were, standing in the middle of a dirty street, Gray half-naked and Cana's breath smelling of alcohol. To some girls, this would be a disastrous first kiss, but as Gray tightened his hold around her waist and pushed into the kiss with force, Cana decided it was perfect.

When they finally separated, all she could do was smile. The kiss told her what she was afraid to ask the cards – their future held a whole lot of depth and passion.

* * *

A/N: I perceive Cana as a pretty self-assured (and sassy) person most of the time, so I hope nobody thinks I wrote her poorly. I also think she knows exactly how good looking she is and enjoys it, just like Lucy.

On another note, I don't generally write romantic well (because I'm not a romantic person in life) but I figured I'd give it a go. Hope you all enjoyed it - and remember this is a series of oneshots so just because I write one pairing doesn't mean it's exclusive to the stories.


	3. Sweet Sleep

It's a well-known fact that dragon slayers have superior senses. Natsu Dragneel was no exception. But there was something about Lucy's fluffy comforter and soft mattress that always made him curl up defenseless as a baby and drift into blissful sleep.

Gray Fullbuster knew this was the best time to strike.

Slinking through Lucy's open window, Gray approached the bed with his weapon of choice poised for attack. This was nothing more than retribution for Natsu's outrageous actions earlier in the day.

Smirking, he leaned in close to his prey. Revenge is so sweet….

"Get away from him Gray."

"Eh?" The ice alchemist started and turned toward the source of the voice, sharpie still in hand. "Lucy!" he said, quickly trying to hide the marker behind his back. "Err…what are you doing here?"

"This is my room!" she said plainly. "And put on some clothes will you?" she added. "Unless you want me to show the whole guild this picture of you half-naked straddling Natsu." The blonde flashed an evil grin as she flashed him a glimpse of her camera.

Gray looked down and realized he was adorned in nothing but black silk boxers again. "Shit!"

He hopped up, looking around for his clothes. "Where do they go?"

Lucy shrugged. "There are spare pants for you in the bottom draw. You can have them…if you promise not to attack Natsu while he's sleeping again."

"Yeah, yeah," Gray grumbled, already sticking his legs through the pant leg of the men's jeans Lucy had learned to keep on hand for him. He was thoroughly annoyed that she had interrupted his plans to doodle all over Natsu's face as payback for the whoopee cushion the flame-controller had hidden under his seat cushion in the guild earlier. He knew there was no point in continuing on here though – Lucy didn't approve of such pranks – especially when Natsu was the butt of the joke.

"Bye Lucy," he said, waving casually as he hopped out the window.

"I have a door!" she shouted after him. He laughed and continued on his way.

Shaking her head, Lucy Heartphilia turned back to the snoozing dragonslayer. "Looks like I got to save you for a change," she said, smiling.

If anyone asked her, Lucy would say it drove her crazy when she came home to Natsu in her bed. But if she was being honest, she'd tell them that she was positively charmed by the way he nested into the covers so only a tuft of pink hair was showing. She tucked the blankets Gray had pulled loose back in around Natsu and headed to the kitchen to make dinner.

Humming to herself, Lucy began chopping zucchini. She was making pasta primavera tonight – one of her personal favorites. She knew Natsu would only eat it if she kicked up the spice, so she had some red pepper flakes ready for his dish.

As an afterthought, she grabbed a pot and filled it with water for the pasta. Suddenly, she heard a huge bang from the bedroom, causing her to jump and nearly stab herself with the large kitchen knife.

"Natsu…" she growled, turning to rush into the bedroom with knife and pot still in hand. "Don't scare me like that!" she shouted. However, when she ran into the room she didn't see her teammate wrecking the place as she'd expected. Instead, a large and unfamiliar form stood over the bed menacingly.

Lucy didn't take the time to think about the fact that she was a celestial mage with powerful spirits at her command, or the fact that the large enemy standing before her would easily overpower her in physical strength. All she thought about was the fact that Natsu was sleeping peacefully under the blankets and his guard was down. Her teammate was in danger, so Lucy did the thing any woman would do in the situation.

She dropped the pot and went running at the guy with the kitchen knife.

"Don't touch him!" she shouted, throwing her full weight at the man, who had now turned. He was wearing a ski mask, but she could see his confused expression through his eyes. The hulk of a man threw his arms up in defense, and she stabbed the knife right into his left forearm.

"OUCH! It's me Lucy!"

Lucy was so surprised by the voice that came out of the mask that she let go of the knife, which was now stuck in the muscly flesh. "Elfman?" she said incredulously.

"Sorry Lucy," he said, pulling the knife out of his arm as he spoke. Lucy cringed as blood began spurting out and dripping onto the floor. "It wasn't very manly to sneak in here. I didn't realize you were home."

"What were you going to do to Natsu?" she asked, still suspicious. There might be no real danger, but he was still being sketchy.

The takeover mage rubbed the back of his neck. "Natsu challenged Gray and me to a prank war earlier today. A real man doesn't back down from a challenge. So I was doing to draw on his face with sharpie while he slept!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "It's so manly to attack a sleeping man," she said sarcastically.

Elfman stared at her. "I didn't think about that…"

Lucy sighed and glanced down at the bed. Natsu was still slumbering away, despite all the noise. She should have been angry, but instead she giggled at the absurdity of the situation. "You really scared me! Let me treat your arm – you're bleeding pretty badly. The bathroom's this way."

She turned and beckoned for him to follow her into the bathroom, taking care to step over the water she had spilled before.

"This isn't very manly," Elfman complained as he followed her. As he walked across the room he stepped right into the puddle Lucy had avoided, causing him to trip right into Lucy. Both of them crashed unceremoniously to the floor.

"Ahhh!" Lucy shrieked as they fell.

Of course, at that moment, sleeping beauty opened his eyes. Groggy from sleep, his senses hadn't fully kicked in. All he registered was a bloody knife on the ground, and a large masked man on top of his favorite teammate.

"LUCY!" he cried, jumping from the bed and slamming a flaming fist into poor Elfman. The force of the blow sent the older boy into Lucy's bookcase, causing it to topple over onto him. "You bastard," he shouted, pulling Elfman (who he still didn't realize was Elfman in his clouded rage) from the rubble just to hit him again. "How dare you touch her!?"

"Natsu stop!" Lucy shouted, scrambling up from the floor. "I'm fine – and you're destroying my house!"

"Lucy…" Natsu paused to look at the blonde and confirm that she was in fact okay. The moment of calm caused his sense of smell to set in, and he realized who he was beating.

"Elfman? What the hell are you doing to Lucy?"

"It's not what it looks like," Lucy said hastily, getting between the two boys before Natsu continued to beat the still bleeding and now bruised Elfman. "I stabbed Elfman in the arm, then we fell…" She was rushing to explain the story.

"You're not making any sense," Natsu said as he crossed his arms. "I don't get what's going on but I don't think I like it."

"Elfman snuck in here to pull a prank on you, but I thought he was trying to kidnap you so stabbed him. After I realized who he was I was going to clean his wound but he slipped on water and we fell over." Lucy summarized.

"Why did you stab him with a knife when you could have used your keys?" The fire mage asked, pointing to the keychain hanging from her belt.

"I-uh…" Lucy blushed, realizing how silly the whole thing seemed. "I was scared that you were in danger, so I just reacted…" Her cheeks burned with embarrassment.

"It was very manly," Elfman said, trying to be helpful as he got to his feet.

"Eh?" Natsu cocked his end and stared at her. "You thought I was in danger? From Elfman?"

"I didn't know it was Elfman at the time…" Lucy burned even redder. She felt like a complete idiot.

Lucy cast her eyes to the ground to avoid looking at the dragonslayer's face. He must think she's stupid for trying to protect him at all, let alone in such a half-baked way.

Suddenly Lucy felt warm hands on her shoulders. She looked up to see Natsu's face inches from her own.

"Thank you for protecting me," Natsu said seriously. He pulled her into a tight hug. "But if that had been a real attacker, you could have been hurt. I don't like that."

Lucy hadn't even thought of that. "I'm sorry…" she said quietly.

Elfman shifted weight from one foot to the other, realizing he was witnessing an intimate moment. "A man knows when he's not wanted," he whispered, hopping out the window.

"So…" Lucy said, feeling uncomfortable. "What were you dreaming about anyway? I had to chase Gray out of here earlier too. You were out like a light.

Natsu moved back so he could run his hand through Lucy's hair and against her cheek. "I was dreaming about you," he said simply.

"Eh?" This caused Lucy's cheeks to burn hotter again. "Wha-what kind of dream was it?" She wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"I don't really remember," he said. "But it was just you and me. I didn't want to wake up."

Lucy swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. "Well…it's just you and me right now."

"I know," he said, pulling her into his chest again. "I like it best like this. Do you?"

If anyone asked, Lucy would tell them it annoyed her that Natsu was always popping in on her unannounced. But if she was being honest with them, she'd say that her favorite moments were the quiet times they spent together in her apartment.

"Of course I do," she whispered.

He pulled back and grinned at her. "Great!" he said. "Let's get back in bed then."

"Ehhhhh? What are we going to do in bed?" She couldn't decide if she was excited or horrified by his suggestion.

He looked at her. "What do you mean? We're going to sleep of course!"

Then again, if she was being honest with herself, Natsu might just be hopeless.


End file.
